Cherry Hill Superintendent Kwame Morton compares teacher salaries with other area school districts at the Tuesday meeting.
School board and community members at the Cherry Hill board meeting on Tuesday found some common ground on how the district should spend the $3.1 million of state aid that legislation restored in May.
The board heard several public comments before voting on a resolution that would use the funds to:
- Increase teacher salaries
- Add four elementary sections
- Purchase new English Language Arts materials
- Buy interactive flat panels for classrooms and software for the elementary schools
- Reinstate the district Junior ROTC program, high school golf team, middle school and high school bowling teams
- Restore several Alternative High School positions
Despite one community member's reservations about the purchase of flat panels, the majority of the speakers expressed their support for the board's resolution, particularly the proposed salary increases.
"Attracting and retaining quality staff is essential," said parent Jessica Fingerman. Approving the resolution "will allow the district to keep the best and brightest, attract the best and brightest, and that is what we need for our students. Our students need lower class sizes," she said.
Another parent, Jamie Marchese, said  teachers "inspire, ignite, instill and encourage. …recruiting and retaining the best of the best is imperative in today’s competitive job market."
School Superintendent Kwame Morton said that while some Cherry Hill teachers made $52,070 this year, their contemporaries in the Evesham distirct and Lenape Regional High School District made $56,000 and $63,690, respectively.
Board members Renee Cherfane, Adam Greenbaum, Joel Mayer, Quadsia Niaz, Miriam Stern, Sally Tong and Gina Winters voted in favor of the resolution. Board members Benjamin Rood and Kim Gallagher did not attend the meeting.
Lynn Shugars, assistant superintendent/business administrator, told 70and73.com before the meeting that the district is not exercising the one-time option in the restored funding legislation to increase property taxes above the 2% tax levy, so the tax increase announced on April 30 — about $195 a year for the owner of a home assessed at the average of $226,922 — will not change.
Communications audit resultsÂ
Jessica Scheckton, a consultant with the National Public Relations Association, presented findings from her board-sponsored audit of many district communication strategies, including its website, flyers, social media and emails. The audit also contained results from her surveys, focus group meetings and interviews. Â
According to the audit, about 61% of parents surveyed thought that, overall, the district does an "excellent" or "above average" job communicating with the public. In comparison, about 27% felt the district does an "average" job and 11% thought the district does a "below average" or "poor" job. Â
Scheckton said factors that contributed to those opinions included some parents thinking their comments were unwelcome and not valued, that district communication needed to be more timely, accurate and streamlined, that there are too many channels for receiving district information and that messaging around safety incidents is too vague.
Some of her recommendations included developing a communications plan that contains measurable objectives towards reaching district goals, increasing the district's communications staff and infrastructure, addressing information "overload and redundancy," shutting down misinformation and redesigning the district's website.
No immediate board action was taken on implementing the audit's recommendations. Scheckton said this is usually the case after communications audits, noting that “it is not considered that any school district can tackle all the recommendations in one school year. Typically, the timeline is a two- to three-year process, she said.
Lewis Administration Building Future
The imminent relocation of the Alternative High School from the Lewis Administration Building to Cherry Hill East has prompted the board to give "strong consideration" to using the soon-to-be-vacated rooms within the Lewis Building for elementary classrooms, Mayer said.
A recently released board-sponsored demographic study revealed the district's elementary-age population is expected to grow significantly in the next five years and thus justifies exploring this possibility, Mayer and Morton said.
New Wireless Rules
The board unanimously adopted a new policy banning students and teachers from using cell phones, smartwatches and all other wireless communications devices and from using such devices in silent mode while someone is teaching in a classroom.
According to Mayer, Tuesday's vote was on the first reading. The second reading will occur at the board's June 25 meeting.
If the new policy passes, it will be instituted in the fall.
"There is an existing policy which addresses the use of cell phones in class. But, frankly, that policy is not being followed with the type of consistency it needs to be in order to be effective," Mayer said, adding that teachers and students asked the board to look at this issue.Â
Mayer said exceptions to the policy include those students who need those devices to monitor health concerns or as part of their 504 or Individualized Educational Plan. All students can use their devices during lunch, recess, class exchanges and co-curricular activities unless their school principal prohibits it. Â
State harassment, intimidation and bullying lawÂ
The district's self-assessment of how well it follows the state's harassment, intimidation and bullying (HIB) law during the 2022-23 school year showed the district exceeded the minimum standard, according to LaCoyya Weathington, the district assistant superintendent for compliance, equity and pupil services.
Some of the law's best practices include raising awareness of bullying, providing interventions to those who are frequently bullied, stopping the bullying immediately and ensuring the victim's safety, according to the New Jersey Department of Education website.
"This is not an assessment of how many HIBs you had (or) how many HIBs were affirmed or not affirmed," Weathington said. "It is only an assessment of (whether) you are following the law. It is not about the quality of your investigations."
